Judit Elek

Judit Elek studied at University of Theatre and Film Arts. The recorded working language is Hungarian. The field of work recorded is film, film direction and film screenwriting. Distinctions recorded are Kossuth Prize, Béla Balázs Award, Master of Hungarian Motion Picture and Officer's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit.

As a child, she survived the Second World War first in a sheltered house on Pozsonyi Street, Budapest, and then in the ghetto (November 1944 – January 1945). From 1956 to 1961, Elek studied at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest, in the class of film director Félix Máriássy. Her classmates included Pál Gábor, Imre Gyöngyössy, Zoltán Huszárik, Ferenc Kardos, Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács, János Rózsa, Éva Singer and István Szabó. During this time she was a founding member of the Balázs Béla Studio, a workshop for experimental film. In 1968, Elek made her first feature film, Sziget a szárazföldön (The Lady from Constantinople). From the 1980s onwards, she made historical films such as The Trial of Martinovics and the Hungarian Jacobins (1980). In the 1990s, she shot films with a Jewish theme like Tutajosok (Memories of a River, 1990) and To speak the Unspeakable: The Message of Elie Wiesel (1996). Elek was married to the Hungarian film director Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács (1936–2014). The cinematographer and producer Eli Laszlo Berger Eli Berger (László Berger, born in Budapest, 1970) is their son, known for the films A hét nyolcadik napja (The Eighth Day of the Week, 2006, directed by Judit Elek), Bankster (2016) and Dreams Are an Excuse (2023). Elek died on 1 October 2025, at the age of 87.

Elek wrote many screenplays and directed many films, mostly in Hungarian, including: 1962, with Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács: Vásárcsarnok (Supermarket), short. 1963: Találkozás / Találkozás-Apróhirdetés (Encounter / Encounter by classified ad), short, 23 minutes. 1966: Kastélyok lakói (Inhabitants of Castles in Hungary in 1966), short documentary, 27 minutes. 1967: Meddig él az ember? I-II (How Long Does Man Live?), documentary, 60 minutes. 1969: Sziget a szárazföldön (The Lady from Constantinople), Elek's feature film debut, 76 minutes. 1970: Találkozunk 1972-ben / Sötétben-világosban (We Will Meet in 1972 – In Dark and in Light), television documentary, 35 minutes. 1974 Egyszerű történet (A Commonplace Story), documentary, 104 minutes. Az első fénykép (Tamás Cseh: The First Photo), television documentary, 37 minutes. 1975: Istenmezején 1972-73-ban (On the Field of God in 1972-73), documentary, 78 minutes. 1976: Árvácska (Nobody's Daughter), screenwriter. 1980: Vizsgálat Martinovics Ignác szászvári apát és társainak ügyében (The Trial of Martinovics and the Hungarian Jacobins), feature film, 127 minutes. Majd holnap (Maybe Tomorrow), feature film, 104 minutes. 1984: Mária-nap (Maria's Day), feature film, 120 minutes. 1990: Tutajosok (Memories of a River), feature film, 147 minutes. 1995: Ébredés (Awakening), feature film, 110 minutes. 1996 Mondani a mondhatatlant: Elie Wiesel üzenete (To Speak the Unspeakable: The Message of Elie Wiesel), documentary, 105 minutes. In Hungarian, English and French. Egy szabad ember – Fisch Ernő élete (A Free Man – The Life of Ernő Fisch), documentary, 107 minutes. 2006: A hét nyolcadik napja (The Eighth Day of the Week), feature film, 100 minutes. 2009–2010: Visszatérés – Retrace, feature film, 86 minutes. In Hungarian, Romanian, and English. 2018: És a halottak újra énekelnek (After All the Dead Sing Again...), music documentary, 72 minutes. In Hebrew and Yiddish.

For the purposes of the film Tutajosok (1990) 14 sheep were spread with a flammable substance, and then, at the order of Judit Elek, were burned alive. 69 scientists from the Jagiellonian University demanded that the authorities forbid Judit Elek entry to Poland. Scientists wrote among others: "No director knowing her own worth would debase herself for using so primitive and cruel methods".

Találkozás (Elek Judit, 1963, részlet) on YouTube. Video duration 4m 49 s. Nemzeti Filmintézet – Filmarchívum. Consulted 23 April 2023. (The English title of this film is Encounter.) Meddig él az ember (Elek Judit, 1968, részlet) on YouTube. Video duration 1m 50s. Nemzeti Filmintézet – Filmarchívum. Consulted 23 April 2023. (The English title of this film is How Long Does Man Live?.) Sziget a szárazföldön (Elek Judit, 1969, részlet) on YouTube. Video duration 14m 4s. Nemzeti Filmintézet – Filmarchívum. Consulted 23 April 2023. (The English title of this film is The Lady from Constantinople.) Elek Judit: Martinovics... 1980 on YouTube. Video duration 2h 6m 25s. Fodor Tamás. Consulted 23 April 2023. (The English title of this film is The Trial of Martinovics and the Hungarian Jacobins.)